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Pennsylvania teens too young to vote are voicing their opinionsNearly 100 Jewish teens go to Ohio to participate in the Election

— by Carly Lundy Schacknies

They can’t yet cast a ballot, but that isn’t stopping Claire Akers, Jessica Cohen, Rachel Ellis, Hannah Frank, Kassidy Garcia, Emily Gorby, Micah Rabin, Danielle Salisbury, and Jeremy Witchel from Pittsburgh, Jack Mangurten from New Kensington, Marissa Snyder from Upper Saint Clair, Ellie Sullum from Clark Summit, and Johanna Ure from Wyomissing and the nearly 100 Jewish teen leaders from across the country from getting involved in the political process on November 5 – 7, 2012. They are attending BBYO, Inc’s program, Voice Your Vote: An Issue Summit on the 2012 Election and Civic Responsibility, in Cleveland, Ohio.

On Election Day, the teens will choose their preferred candidate and will hit the campaign trail to advocate. BBYO has worked with the Romney Ryan and Obama Biden campaigns to assign the teens to some of Cleveland’s busiest polling locations.

More after the jump.The Summit participants are members of BBYO’s high school leadership programs AZA (for young men) and BBG (for young women) and the Bukharian Teen Lounge in New York. In Cleveland, the teens will learn about the issues being debated in this election cycle through a series of bipartisan learning sessions. They will hear from guest speaker Frankie Goldberg, a Cleveland Juvenile Court Judge Candidate and BBYO alumna, and BBYO’s Jewish educators about how they can continue to be involved in the political process while maintaining their Jewish values.

“It’s so important that today’s young people understand how to approach the political landscape and the responsibility to do advocacy while staying true to their Jewish values,” said Aleeza Lubin, BBYO’s Director of Jewish Enrichment for the Midwest states.

As the results come in, the teens will watch and tally towards 270 at their own Election Night Watch Party. They will also connect live with their peers at BBYO’s other community watch parties in Washington, DC, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Pittsburgh and Westchester, NY. The community events are all open to the entire community and feature partnerships with local youth movements NCSY, NFTY, USY, as well as HEA Youth Programs, Jewish Student Connection, and CAJE.

BBYO’s programming is teen inspired and led, and the summit is no different. Sofie Jacobs, 16 years old, from Rockville, MD, Sierra Lash,16 years old, from Oakland, CA , Brad Honigberg, 17 years old, from Mequon, WI, and Gary Levine, 16 years old, from Dallas, TX, AZA and BBG members who are serving as program coordinators will facilitate, with staff support, a variety of sessions during the Summit.

“People think that teens don’t care about politics, but they’re wrong. We care about having an active role in our future and this is a great opportunity to not only witness, but also shape history,” said Sofie Jacobs.

Before returning home, teens will learn how they can continue to stay involved in the civic and political process.

Let me make myself clear: President Obama will win Pennsylvania, and Mitt Romney’s attempt to make a play for this state is more of a sign of desperation on his part than anything else. This is part of the old Republican playbook. They tried a last ditch attempt to expand the electoral base in 2008 when they were losing Ohio, Iowa, Florida and other traditional battleground states. Mitt Romney ignored Pennsylvania over the course of the last two years, and didn’t ask Pennsylvanians for their vote. A week of advertising won’t change that.

Tom Corbett and Carol Aichele are at it again. They've launched a page on the PA Voter site so you can report voter fraud. It's even uglier than it sounds. You can click on it here, but before you do, be warned, if you do, Tom and Carol are going to track YOU!

Notice: This website monitors and captures ISP information. By visiting this site, you consent to such monitoring.

Right above that warning is information about your internet connection: where you are, your IP address and your area code.

Here's what they're looking for:

This online election complaint form is provided for registered voters in Pennsylvania to submit a complaint to the voter’s county board of elections and/or district attorney. The site is managed by the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections in Pennsylvania. However, the Department of State has no authority to investigate or prosecute alleged election law violations.

Information submitted with this complaint will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities for possible use in future investigations and/or prosecutions.

So basically, they have no fraud here, they don't expect any, they won't go after anyone if there's some information provided, but they want you to look high and low and report it.

While we await a final ruling on Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law, we must assume the worse and try to mitigate the damage by minimizing the number of voters disenfranchised by the law.

(JSPAN) The Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition is continuing to canvass for residents who do not have photo identification that meets the new requirements to vote on election day. The Coalition is transporting those people to Department of Motor Vehicles license centers to apply for the necessary ID. You can volunteer to help by phone banking, joining the canvass, providing transportation, or greeting and assisting people at the license centers. – Ed.

Former Congressman Tom Periello (D VA-5), President and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, spoke to a gathering of activists at Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

In conversation before the meeting, participants discussed natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania and its environmental issues.

Periello addressed the activists, “I know all of you are community leaders, and you have various outlets where you can be heard. we not only want to give Pennsylvania-specific (statistics) about this election, but also the methodology behind them.”

More after the jump.Periello said the his background “was in grassroots organizing, and then started working on conflict resolution, peace negotiations in West Africa, Afghanistan and other countries, which naturally led to a run for Congress in 2008. I ran in a very conservative district in central and southern Virginia, and I had the crazy idea that we’d win more voters by actually being stronger among progressives rather than trying to be Republican-lite.”

After winning narrowly, Periello said, “I was proud to vote for health care twice, for the (economic) stimulus, DREAM Act, etc. In the terrible year for Democrats of 2010, we lost by only three points when we should have lost by seventeen.” Piriello’s career, he said, “is what has attracted me so much to the Center for American Progress. We believe fact should still matter, even though we know how manipulated information is today. By having stronger, bolder ideas as progressives, we actually convert more people, than by cutting a good idea in half.”

Warning against overconfidence and complacency because Obama is ahead of Romney in the polls, Periello said,

As someone who lived through the 2010 election, in a Citizens United era, anything is possible. There’s a billion dollars on the conservative side, and it’s not just about them wanting Mitt Romney elected. They actually actively want to de-legitimize the concept of clean energy, they want to de-legitimize the idea of Medicare as a guaranteed benefit, there are deeper ideological fights that are being fought here. We’re here today, not just because we care about this election, but we care about what happens the day after the election. We want to see a conversation over the next forty-five to fifty days that helps inform the debate about financial issues and energy.

Periello showed charts that summarized what he called

the core economic, kitchen-table arguments of this campaign. There are a lot of things you simply can’t quantify…when you talk about treating LGBT brothers and sisters as less than fully human, you can’t put a dollar figure on that. When you talk about 2.1 million women just in Pennsylvania alone who have guaranteed pre-preventative care under Obamacare, it’s hard to put a dollar figure on that. When you have 191 thousand kids in Pennsylvania with pre-existing conditions who cannot be discriminated against under laws that are already active, (and) who are able to stay on their family plans-there are deep issue as to who we are as a people, who we want to treat our neighbors, what it means to consider redefining rape and outlawing contraception, or at least saying that your boss has some right to decide your access to it.

Periello pointed out the Romney tax plan to raise taxes on lower income families by $2,000 a year, along with five trillion dollars in tax cuts aimed at high-income people. “He has been extremely specific about this,” said Periello.

Romney, added Periello, has also been specific in his spending plan, which includes defense, Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, education, transportation, student grants, among others. “Romney says he wants to cut overall spending,” said Periello, “then he says, ‘We’re going to keep Social Security and Medicare constant for ten years.’ (Romney) says he wants to increase defense spending by two trillion dollars a year,” which means “everything else has to be cut by forty percent in order to reach that target.” Periello raised the question, “What if Romney is lying, what if he’s not fully telling the truth?”

Discussing how Pennsylvania would be affected by the Romney cuts, Periello said,

Over the next decade, that means $118 billion less in federal investment in the state, or about $12 billion a year over the next decade. Either that $12 billion has to be replaced in local and state spending, in which case you’re raising taxes again, or significant benefit cuts, on things like education, Pell Grants, veterans’ benefits, federal aviation, local airports shutting down, a lot of things that people depend on, in addition to Medicaid. You might say, ‘He’s not going to go after veterans,’ then everything else has to be cut by sixty percent.

There’s a reason he wants to be vague about this. Most of these are things voters actually like, and are glad we’re investing in, like public health and safety.

The Republican Jewish Coalition flew and bused volunteers to campaign yesterday Sunday, September 9 and today Monday, September 10 in three metropolitan areas:

Philadelphia and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

South-Eastern Florida, and

Cleveland, Ohio.

Ron Kampeas reports that this is part of a $6,500,000 microtargeting campaign funded in part by gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson (pictured right at the RJC “Friends of Israel” reception at the Republican National Convention).

Ohio (1.3% Jewish) and Florida (3.4% Jewish) are once again battleground states and are being hotly contested by the Romney and Obama campaigns. Pennsylvania (2.3% Jewish) has traditionally been a swing state, but lately it has been considered fairly safe for the Democrats, and accordingly Mitt Romney, Karl Rove and the Koch brothers’ Super-PACs “Restore Our Future”, “Crossroads GPS” and “Americans for Prosperity” all announced last week that they were pulling out of Pennsylvania and Michigan and concentrating their ad buys on more competitive states. We asked the RJC why they were skipping Nevada which is a very competitive state with a 2.8% Jewish population the most of any swing-state other than Florida, but Stu Sandler and Bill Wanger had no comment. (See comment posted below.)

The RJC invited us to observe their outreach effort in work in our area. Local members of the RJC were joined by supporters bused in from Bethesda, Maryland and the New York area. Some volunteers flew in from as far away as California. In all about 400 Republicans were assembled at the Radisson Valley Forge Casino Resort.

During the breakfast, RJC leaders and volunteers were all eager to share the views with us. One deplored a “certain strain of the Jewish community that cares more about the Democratic party than about Israel.” I asked if she was referring to extreme elements of the grassroots or about any particular elected officials, and she cited Rep. Alysson Schwartz as an example saying

Allyson Schwartz will be a Democrat [sic] believer until the day she dies even if they start wearing brown shirts

(a reference to the color of the uniforms of the Strumabteilung which played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power). Other members of the crowd echoed Lynne’s contempt for the Democratic Congresswomen and cited DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Former Rep. Robert Wexler, Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach, and Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro as “traitor to their faith.”

I discussed the Democratic and Republican party platforms with Lynne Lechter, Republican Committeewoman in Lower Merion and former candidate for the Pennsylvania Assembly (shown right at the National Women’s Committee of the RJC at the Green Valley County Club in 2009). Asked about the Republican platform which echoes Rep. Todd Akin’s support for a blanket ban on abortions without any exception for rape or incest, Ms. Lechter said that to her “platforms are not relevent. People don’t always agree with everything in the platform.” However, she felt that the original Democratic platform “underscored the hatred of Democrats for religion and Israel.”

More after the jump.

The volunteers were assembled into teams some for phone banking, literature drops and strategic sign waving.

Vans brought the RJC volunteers to various neighborhoods. Media from the Philadelphia Jewish Voice, the Jewish Exponent, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the New Jersey Jewish News were taken to an affluent Jewish neighborhood in Gladwynne where we watched as a pair of volunteers left campaign brochures at the front door of each targeted home. They were instructed not to knock or interact with voters, but simply to leave their literature and move on. The RJC began canvassing neighborhoods for the first time during the 2008 election. However, Stu Sandler said this outreach effort is larger and better targeted than their 2008 canvassing.

Other volunteers were assigned to “strategic sign waving.” For example, a pair of RJC volunteers was stationed outside the Obama for America office at 1 E. Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore, PA waving signs reading “Oy vay, Obama.” (See photo below of a billboard in Southern Florida with a similar message.) OFA Field Director Jediah Grobstein asked them to not block the entrance, but other than that there was little interaction observed between the Democratic and Republican supporters.

A conference room at the Radisson was devoted to phone banking. The RJC used the same predictive dialing technology which Organizing for America used during the New York special elections of 2009. Volunteer phone bankers could stay on the phone as a computer connected them with one voter after another.

After the day of canvassing, the volunteers were treated to a private discussion with Congressmen Pat Meehan (R-PA7) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA8), and former Republican State Senator Bruce Mark, followed by Sunday Night Football as the Denver Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-19.

The 22nd annual Stu Bykofsky Candidates’ Comedy Night, a benefit for Variety, the children’s charity, was held this evening at Finnegan’s Wake. Since this is primarily a political blog I didn’t take notes on the speakers who aren’t running for office. As always, this is not intended to be an exact transcript, just rough notes I took at the event. It would be impossible to capture every joke, especially the longer, more involved story jokes, but I made an effort to provide some idea of each candidate’s routine.

Photo: Steven M. Falk, Philly.com

Details after the jump.

Text implies a direct joke, notes in brackets are condensations or gists. Actions or extraneous activities are in italics, as are candidates’ names. Read your local newspapers for more exact accounts of the event.

[Tom Smith was brave enough to go first as a stand-up comedian. He had a clever slide show which featured a head-shot of Smith added to all the slides of stock or iconic photos.]

I am new to politics and most people in Philadelphia aren’t familiar with me. My father died when I was 20 and I had to look after the family so I couldn’t go to college but I sent my daughters. [shows a slide of what he would have looked like if he had gone – his face superimposed on someone wearing a college tshirt holding a beer mug].

My wife is with me, as you can see I let her get a new dress for the event [American Gothic painting with Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s photos in it].

I worked in a coal mine [Smith’s face on the front of Thomas the Tank Engine, pulling a load of coal].

I had big dreams [his face added to a picture of the Beverly Hillbillies]. My wife and I adopted four children so a family could stay together.

People say I am a Tea Party candidate but there are a lot of things about me you don’t know [his face added to an Occupy Pittsburgh group photo].

Photo: Bonnie Squires

Rep. Bob Brady (D), PA 1st Congressional District

[Congressman Bob Brady told a couple of jokes which we can’t repeat here. He made Stu Bykofsky the butt (pardon the pun) of one a “pee and poop joke.” Another jokee was about an attorney going to a brothel.]

Incumbents do comedy every day, make fools of ourselves every day. This is for the kids.

Photo: Bonnie Squires

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)

[Senator Bob Casey appeared in shirt-sleeves! He made fun of himself for being dull, quoting verbatim a front page New York Times article which talked about Casey’s galloping eyebrows as the way in which he registers excitement.]

[jokes about her Irish heritage and her hometown of Scranton][joke about thinking Finnegan’s Wake was an actual funeral wake][joke about doctors]

In Scranton the obituaries are the Irish social pages. People clip them out and put then on the refrigerator. They often have headlines, like “101 Year Old Woman Dies Unexpectedly.”

I took my son to an Eagles game. We saw empty seats up front and moved up to them. They were next to an older man. He told us he and his wife had season tickets for years but she died a few days ago. I asked if a family member didn’t want to come with him. “Oh, no,” he said, “they’re at the funeral.”

Photo: Bonnie Squires

George Badey, Democratic candidate for 7th Congressional District

[George Badey, who was raised in South Philadelphia and is an avowed Mummer, had a very funny routine. Badey is the Democrat running against Republican incumbent Congressman Pat Meehan.]

[told “the neighborhood I grew up in was so tough” jokes – it is now in Brady’s district]

I went to high school in South Philly. Pat Meehan went to the Chestnut Academy.

Chris Christie is in the hospital. He has that flesh eating bacteria. He only has 13 years to live.

Fidel Castro’s successor will be his idiot son, Fidel W. Castro.

Bill Clinton and the Pope died but there was a mix up and Clinton went up and the Pope went down. When the mix up was fixed and the Pope was going up and Clinton down they passed and the Pope told Clinton he was looking forward to meeting the Blessed Virgin. Clinton said “You just missed her.”

[John Featherman was very funny with jokes about being Jewish and his “mixed marriage” to an Asian woman].

Two Chinese people had a white baby but everyone knows two Wongs don’t make a white.

A union friend wanted to find a whorehouse where the prostitutes got to keep more of the money than the madam. They finally found one and the union friend asked for a pretty young blonde but the proprietor said he had to take 62 year old Ethel, because of seniority rules.

Comedian Joe Conklin

Intermission with comedian Joe Conklin who told some good jokes and did impressions of political figures. He also gave a shout out to the girls from Club Risque and said they were the only ones there with bigger [breasts] than Bob Brady.

Photo: Bonnie Squires

Rep. Pat Meehan (R), PA 7th Congressional District

[Congressman Pat Meehan, the Republican incumbent being challenged by Badey, also had a very funny routine.]

Stu thought the Variety Club was a dating service.

My opponent George Badey is a mummer. He wants to go to Washington, wear satin pants, a feather boa and lipstick. J. Edgar Hoover already did that.

Anthony Wiener got in trouble for sexting. He was trying to decide whether or not to resign. He was in, he was out, he was in, he was out, now he’s holding his own. Bill Clinton oversaw Wiener’s wedding. When the scandal broke he called Clinton to apologize — for what, copyright infringement?

Three political figures were driving through Kansas and ended up in Oz. [missed the name, possibly George W. Bush?] went looking for a heart, Joe Biden for a brain, and Bill Clinton said “Where’s Dorothy?”

There is an auction for a restaurant gift card which Emerald Capital bids more than the card is worth, then ups that bid when Stu includes a gift basket.

When I ran in 2010 I spoke at this event and told a lot of jokes about being an Indian-American. I won’t do that this year. [fakes a telephone call and answers in stereotypic Indian accent] “Dell Technical Support. This is … Mike …. In …. Kansas City.”

My wife is from a very traditional family. When they heard I wouldn’t be a full-time doctor while I am running for office they asked for three chickens back.

Jim Gerlach and Paul Ryan work out together — they practice their Atlas Shrugged poses.

[He told several jokes that fell flat and asked if the audience was drinking enough. As he left the stage Stu told him you never blame the audience if your jokes don’t get a laugh, always use self-deprecating humor.]

Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, Republican, 8th Congressional District

[Fitzpatrick was taking two of his daughters to college this weekend and so wasn’t sure he would be able to attend; a surrogate, Andre [did not catch last name], was there just in case, but Fitzpatrick told his own jokes]

One night in Washington a robber held me up and said “give me all your money.” I told him I was a Congressman and he said “In that case give me all my money.”

Is Mitt Romney here tonight? Coming in I thought I saw a car with a dog carrier on top.”

[discusses his Irish heritage, family from county next to Limerick. Says Limerick known for a particular kind of poem. Tells three. One about Paul Ryan has a line “grandma just must go.” One about Romney being robotic but “I saw him cry when he sold his 3rd yacht.” The last one is about Obama and says he will be a judge on American Idol next year.]

[says he met Mansfield in the 1990’s on another political campaign, Mansfield was homeless then]. Says Mansfield isn’t there because he has a lot of injuries from being in Iraq and is seeing a brain specialist today.

Personal notes:Smith, Casey, Schwartz/Deegan, Kane, Trivedi, and Boockvar did well. I was surprised by the Republican candidates telling Romney/Paul jokes. That seems unusual.

There were a lot of jokes/comments at Congressman Chaka Fattah’s expense. That is because two years ago he was a presenter and gave an awful, mean-spirited rant. He wasn’t there tonight. This would have been an opportunity for him to do something self-deprecating and make a comeback but he didn’t. (Hint: There’s always the Star Trek, evil twin/goatee trick that Community has picked up on.)

It was nice to see two women on the stage. Maybe one of these years Congresswoman Schwartz will join us in person? Kathleen Kane’s routine had a homespun, Lake Woebegone feel to it. Boockvar was a little edgier.

The girls from Club Risque paraded from one side of the room to the other about three times, which is the standard from the other years I’ve attended, but this year they were wearing clunky shoes and the sound was disruptive.

In anticipation of the new restaurant, please join us for an exciting Food Series featuring the engaging, creative and funny wisdom of Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik and the culinary talent and skill of the chefs of Citron and Rose, Michael Solomonov and Yehuda Sichel.

First part of the series for Rosh Hashanah follows the jump.Honey: How to Truly Bee JewishHoney has been associated with Jewish celebrations for over one thousand years. What is it about the miraculous beehive that is so significant? And how can understanding honey’s symbolism guarantee that our new year will be sweeter?

When: Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 7:30 pm

Where: Chabad of the Main Line, 625 Montgomery Ave, Merion Station, PA 19066. Future installments will take place at the new Citron and Rose!

Cost: Suggested $18 donation will support local Jewish Day Schools.

RSVP: Space is limited, so you must reserve a spot. Please RSVP to [email protected] by Friday, September 7, 2012

Who:

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik is the Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University and Associate Rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan.

Michael Solomonov is the executive chef and co-owner of Zahav, and the executive chef at Citron and Rose.

Yehuda Sichel is a sous chef at Zahav and chef de cuisine at Citron and Rose.

Local Congregations Featured Tour Stops in the First Annual Tour de Shuls PA/NJ Bike Ride to Benefit Camp Ramah

— by Leonard Abrams and Bruce Tomar

Middle Atlantic Region of Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs proudly presents the inaugural Tour de Shuls a bike ride to benefit Camp Ramah on Sunday morning, September 23, 2012. Cyclists will enjoy a choice of a 45 mile, 20 mile or family friendly 3 mile ride. All rides begin and end at Temple Sinai in Dresher, PA. The ride will feature tour stops atBeth Sholom in Elkins Park, PA and Tiferet Bet Israel in Blue Bell, PA. The cost to ride is $36 ($54 after 9/9). Check-in begins at 7:00 AM.

Every dollar raised from rider fees, contributions and sponsorships will be donated directly to Camp Ramah. This will be a great day for the Shuls of the Middle Atlantic Region, the Ramah movement and the Jewish community at large. All participants will be treated to a catered lunch by Temple Sinai Men’s Club’s acclaimed “Men in the Kitchen.”

A similar event is planned for September 2 in Indianapolis to benefit Hillels on eight university campuses across Indiana. On June 24, rides were held in Massachusetts and Connecticut rides to support the Tikvah special needs program at Camp Ramah New England.Register today to ride, donate, sponsor a rider, sponsor the event and volunteer at www.tourdeshulspanj.org For further information contact event co-chairs Leonard Abrams at [email protected] or 215-498-2566 or Bruce Tomar [email protected] or 856-429-9042.

Over 100 Supporters of Women’s Health Say “We Are Watching, and We Vote!”

— by Audrey Ann Ross and Sari Stevens

Planned Parenthood held a rally today in West Chester, Pennsylvania, as part of the Women are Watching bus tour, which is crisscrossing the country to educate voters about what’s at stake for women’s health in November and mobilize them to get out the vote.

Gathering at the Historic Chester County Courthouse, more than 100 voters sent a clear message to candidates and politicians like Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Dan Truitt, who oppose policies that protect women’s health — women are watching and they vote. This year, women will decide the outcome of elections across Pennsylvania and the country, and are watching very closely to ensure that they elect candidates who will protect access to women’s health care.